Perhaps it is because I, myself, attended a private boarding school that the scene posted below from Dead Poet's Society appeals to me, but I'd like to encourage any interested in the concept of unlearning to take four minutes and also watch it. The "unlearner," as Robin Williams' character so eloquently says, "Must constantly look [...]

In my 2008 book, Jump the Curve, I dedicated an entire chapter to the topic of “unlearning.” It is my contention that the pace of technological change is occuring so fast that not only it is essential people learn new skills, they must also dedicate an equal amount of time to unlearning old skills and [...]

One of my preferred strategies for thinking about the future as well as for trying to spur creativity and innovation is what I call in my book, Jump the Curve, engaging in “the power of play.” To really hone this skill, it helps to think like a child. Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy thing to [...]

As both a father and an entrepreneur, I'm all in favor of confidence. In my self-appointed role as "America's Chief Unlearning Officer" I would advise that we might all want to take moment and unlearn overconfidence. Take a look at the picture to the right. Which table is longer? It is pretty obvious that the top [...]

Yesterday, I wrote this post entitled "Why Businesses Must Unlearn." Shortly thereafter a thoughtful reader posed this question: "I like this idea of an organization doing some top-down "unlearning" of bad habits. But what new habits do they develop and put in place -- how do you get a seasoned exec that's devoted to a [...]

My other business website, www.jumpthecurve.net, is dedicated to tracking the near exponential rate of change in a variety of technological fields, including nanotechnology, biotechnology, the informational sciences, robotics, etc.  For the past few years I have occasionally discussed why unlearning was such a critical skill in helping leaders, executives, managers and even entire organizations deal [...]

"The most important lessons lay not in what I needed to learn, but in what I first needed to unlearn." Jim Collins The following quote was taken from this Harvard Business article entitled "Never Let Your Ego Stop You from Learning." I would like to argue that ego is even a bigger deterrent to unlearning. [...]

Malcolm Gladwell has an outstanding article in this month's New Yorker entitled "How David Beats Goliath." It is an excellent primer on the concept of unlearning and I can't recommend the article highly enough. If, however, you don't have time to read the full article here's the operative quote: "When underdogs choose not to play [...]